Cabinet approves second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural)

New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday approved the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural), Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project focussed on sustainability of ODF and management of solid and liquid waste.

The second phase will be implemented on a mission mode between 2020-21 and 2024-25 with an estimated central and state budget of Rs 52,497 crore, the Jal Shakti Ministry said in a statement.

The rural sanitation programme was started on October 2, 2014, when the sanitation coverage in the country was reported at 38.7 per cent.

More than 10 crore individual toilets have been constructed since the launch of the mission and as a result, rural areas in all states have declared themselves open defecation free (ODF) as on October 2, 2019.

The second phase will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus), which includes ODF sustainability and solid and liquid waste management (SLWM), the statement